Resilient gearing



Aug. 2, 1927.

' R. JENSEN RESILIENT GEARING Filed sept. 22. 1924 3 sheets-sheet 1 u'MQWMM v Aug' 2f 1927 R. JENSEN RESILIENT @mame n Filed sept. 22. 1924 :ssheets-snee/t 2 l l flu fie i @num/woz @www Aust?, 2,1921. R JENSEN1,637,379

RESILIENT GEARING Filerd Sept. 22. 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 imi i" www;

Jumilla? @5% @ywgww MM Swuentoz W Patented Aug. 2, 1927.

1 oNiTED; STATES l 1,637,379 PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT JENSEN, or :aannEnrKsnEne- NEAR corENnAeEN, DENMARK, AssrGNon 'royr. L. SMIDTH & Co., or NEwYonx, N. Y., 'A conroRATIoN 0E NEW JERSEY.

nEsILIENr eEARrNG.

Application fired september 22, 1924, semaine. 738,974, `alla in Denmarkseptember 29, 1923.

, This inventionhas been developed` with particular reference to itsapplication to' gearing in which several gears are driven from a singledriving pinion. ln such gearing, ifthe several gears are lined rigidlyon their respective shafts, it is impossible for the transmitted power.to be evenly dis tributed because apparently f insignificant andpractically unavoidable, faults of construction bring about suchinequality of distribution of power that at times one gear mayy carryall the load. Various means have been devised heretofore for the purposeof securing such resilient action of the driven gear as will compensatefor such faults of construct-ion to the end that each ygear shall bedriven evenly. The present invention has for its object toprovideimprovedmeans for establishing such resilient relation of thedriven gear to the driving pinion, a further object beingto yprovidealso improved means whereby one of the co-,operating gears shall becapable also of yielding in an axialdirection for the purposey ofsecuring proper' alignment of the co-operating gears as is desirablewith certain forms of gear teeth, snch as double helical teeth. Inaccordance with the invention, the' driven gearis cou pled to its shaft'through a longitudinal spring member or torsion shaft locatedwithinfthe bore of the hollow shaft and connected at one end tothe shaftand at the other end tothe gear which is `loosely mounted on the shaft.Means yare also provided to limit the rotary movement of the gear withrespect to the shaft so as to prevent the placing' of vtoo great a` loadon thetorsion member. Provision. is also made to permit limitedlongitudinal movement, that is,r

movement in an axial direction, as between the gearand the shaft inrorder that the gear may properly align itselfwith the .co-operatinggearor pinion if the characterof the teeth, such as doublehelieal teeth,is such as to make such: alignment desirable. It `will be understoodthat although the invention, asstatcd above, has been developed withparticular reference to the driving of a yplurality of gears from asingle driving pinion, it is applicable in any gearing in which it isdesirablethat there shall be a degree of resilience in the gearing and,as to the ysecond,

part of the invention, to any gearingin which it is desirable,*becauseofthe character of the teeth, that the gearing shall be selffaligningpThe invention will be explained more fully hereinafter with reference tothe accompanying drawings in which several embodiments of the inventionare illustrated and in whichi' Figure lis a view partly in longitudinalsection and partly in elevation of a gea-ring which en'ibodiesftheinvention, the connection. between the torsion member and the gear beingeffected at the hub of the gear.

Figure 2 is a detail view insection yon the rplane indicated by thebroken line 2+-2 of Figure 1.

Figures 3 and 4 are views respectively similar to Figures l and 2,but'with the con- `nection between the torsion member and the gear atthe outer portion of the gear body.

Figures 5 and yG are views also similar respectively to Figures 1 and 2,but with the connection between the torsion member and the at thetoothed portion of the gear.

In the several embodiments of the invention illustrated in the drawings,each tubular shaft a, supported in suitable bearings has mounted thereonwith a working fit the driven gear c, the several gears c, being enngaged by a driving pinion CZ on the driving shaft c. In the severalconstructions shown each shaft e has fixed thereon a pinion fwhiehmeshes with a gear f/ on the shaft h.

lVithin the bore'of each hollow shaft a is a longitudinal spring ortorsion member or shaft ci which at one e'nd is connected to the shaft ato rotate therewith andat the other end is operatively connected to theygear c to rotate the same.

In they construction shown `in Figures 1 rand 2 the torsion member z' issplined to the shaft@ so asto be capable of limited longif ytudinalmovement, that is. in an axial direction. rwith respect to the shaft awhile rotating therewith. At its other end the torsion member 71 isprovided with a sleeve i which is: interposed between the shaft a andthe bearing 7)y at that end and is secured to the hub cvofthe gear bodvc by boltsfc2 which are passed through a iiange 2 of the sleeve e" intothe hub of the gearbody.y

rllhe construction described7 as'will be obvious, permits, through theaction of the torsionmeinber, a rotary yielding of the gear @withrespect to its shaft a and in orderto limitsuch rotaryyielding, sothattoo great a. load shall not be imposed on the torsion member, theshaft a yis provided With LlO Cil

Vthe shaft and the @fear also ermits relative movement of the gear in anaxialV direct-ion,

for a purpose hereinafter explained.

In the arrangement shown in Figures 3 and Ll, the details ofconstruction are the same as already .described with respect'to Figuresl and 2, except as to the connection between the torsion member z' andthe shaft a at one end and between the torsion niember z' and the gear cat the other end. In this instance the torsion member may be keyed fastin the bore of' the shaft cz at its right hand end so as to be incapableof relative movement in an axial direction. At the -other end of thetorsion member the sleeve if', also interposed betweenthe shaft a: andits bearing t, is provided with a larger flange 3 which `is connectednear its periphery `to the body of the wheel c near its periphery bybolts t which have smooth Shanks where they pass through the flange andare long enough to permit relative longitudinal movement of the gear c'for the purpose to be described. In this instance, also, the shaft cicarries aL spline a which engages a larger slot 03 in the hub c of thegear c for the purpose of limiting the relative rotary movementandprotecting the'torsion member fz".

In the embodiment of the invention shown vinFigures 5 and 6, the detailsof construction are substantially the same as already described withrespect to Figures l, 2, 3 and Ll, with the torsion member 71 splined tothe shaft a so as to be capable of movement Vin an axial. direction, butthe flange of the sleeve i" is extended further so that the bolts Gshall enter directly the toothcdrim c4 of the gear c, such rim beingmounted loosely on the body of the,Y gear while a spline c5 fixed in thebody of the gear enters a larger slot c6 in a toothed rim c4 for thepurposeof limiting relative rotary movement of 4the toothed rim and bodyof the gear.V

In the several embodiments of the inven-Y tion illustrated in thedrawings, all gears Vand pinions are `shown as proyided with Vteethwhich are skewed or not parallel to the axis, the particular form shownbeing that of .double helical teeth. It is well understood that thesymmetric planes (at right angles to the shafts) of two such gears inengagement with each other should coincide as otherwise the two halvesof the gears are not equally loaded and axial pressure in one directionor the other is developed. It is found that if oneof such gears isrelatively movablel in en axial direction to a limted extent, such apair of gears will be self-aligning and accordingly there is provided,in each of the .several embodiments of the invention illustrated, aconnection between the shaft and the gear o which transmits powerrotarily but'permits the movement of the gear c inan axial direction. lnthe construction shown in Figures l and 5, for example, thertorsionmember z' vis splined to the shaft a so as to be capable of relativemovement in an axial direction, the gears c moving with it, while inFigure 3 the elongated bolts which pass through the flange 3 into thegear c permit the desired relative vmovement of Vthe gear e. f Y

ATarious other embodiments of the several features of the invention willreadily suggest themselves and the invention, therefore, except aspointed out in the claims, is not Vrestricted to any particularembodiment shown and described herein. l claim as my invention: l.Gearing comprising a driving pinion, a.

4plurality of gears in engagement with sait pinion, a pluralityv ofhollow shafts on which said gears are respectively mounted, and aplurality vof torsion members within the shafts respectively andoperativelyconnected at one end with the shaft and at the otl er endwith the gear.

2. Gearing comprising a driving pinion, a plurality .of gears inengagement with said. pinion, aplurality of hollow shafts on which saidgears are respectively mounted, a plurality ofv torsion members withinthe shafts respectively and operatively connected at one end with theshaft and at the other end with the gear with provision for relativemovement in an axial direction as between said pinion and said gears.

3. Gearing comprising a hollow shaft, a gear rotarily mounted on theshaft, a torsion member connected at one end to the shaft and at theother end to the gear with provision for relative movement of the gearin an axial direction, and a second gear coacting with the rst,"both ofsaid gears` being formed with double skewed teeth.

rlhis specification signed this th day of August, A. D. 1924.

noemer Jensen.

